There has been an interesting development in the ongoing Nova debacle - Les and Laura attended a meeting yesterday afternoon with the company who have taken over Nova, in which it was promised that all remaining Nova "employees" would receive ¥150000 (about £670) if they signed up to restart work on January the 10th, regardless of whether or not they run away and not honour this promise. While this falls well short of what they're owed, if it happens it will certainly make it a lot easier for them to survive here, go home, or move to Korea.
Yesterday I went for an adventure around Shinsaibashi/ Yotsubashi/Korie/Amemura, and I now feel I know the place fairly well. It's a bit of a warren, but seems like a pretty cool place to be, surrounded by bars and restaurants and people pretty much constantly. We went to Kobe in the afternoon (having failed to meet up, and getting three different trains from Osaka to Sannomiya), which is a very cool city, from what I saw. It's tiny, despite containing about 1.25 million people, and seems to be designed on a much more people friendly scale than Osaka. It has a chinatown, which may seem a little redundant in Japan, but in fact is very different in style and appearance to the rest of the city. While Les taught her lesson, we had a look around the (Lonely Planet recommended) sights within walking distance of the station, and were pleasantly surprised. Lots of restaurants serving Kobe beef, unsurprisingly, which I am determined to try before I leave this bit of the country, to see if it's all it's cracked up to be, although at ¥6000+ per steak it will probably be a one-time only experience.
One culinary treat I probably won't be trying is the super-fresh sushi, cut into sashimi while the fish is (supposedly) still alive, ending up looking like this appetising plastic representation in the restaurant window.
We attempted to eat at a cheap restaurant near chinatown, only to be told that the place shut at "ninety o'clock", and a gentleman came outside and told us where we could get a similar meal, all in passable english. When Laura thanked him in Japanese, he laughed out loud and clouted her incredibly hard on the back, maybe as a form of friendly jostle, maybe as a stern warning never to attempt his hallowed language again. We can never be sure... 10 o'clock rolled around, the time we were meant to be meeting Claudia and others for drinks before Karaoke, and we found ourselves to be in a ¥280 bar in a whole different city, so we probably weren't going to make it on time. As it turned out, we made it to Karaoke about half 12, to find a little room with (just) room for 8 or 9 people, with an enormous bible of Japanese, Korean and English songs, a touchscreen remote for entering your requests, two microphones and free soft drinks. After a shaky start (I have never done booth-based karaoke before, and was a little nervous to say the least) I got into my stride, singing Chop-Suey by system of a down with a girl called Sandy. A rather unlikely song, mainly chosen because she said "Can you imagine trying to sing System on Karaoke?" In total, we were there for about 6 hours, belting out such classics as Eternal Flame, Folsom Prison Blues, Total Eclipse Of The Heart, The Final Countdown, Leaving On A Jetplane (solo by Claudia, as she is...), and a rather stunted version of Gasolina. You can stay in the Karaoke room from 11:00 pm to 6:00 am for only the equivalent of £7, making it cheaper than any hostel I've heard of in Japan, almost making it a viable option when Les and Laura leave and I have to move out...
As I went to catch the Subway home at dawn this morning, I found a Ramen bar just by one of the Shinsaibashi Station exits that did freshly cooked Pork Ramen for only ¥600, with big bowls of kimchi and spiced spring onions for adding. I once again found I can use chopsticks when tipsy and exhausted, as I did at Yoshinoya on my first night here in Japan, the night of the neck-kicking incident. I was proud, and arrived home just as the sun was rising over the buildings around Kita-tatsumi, mere minutes after Laura had (incredibly) arrived back on her bike.
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